The NFL’s ambitious global expansion received a resounding vote of confidence from television audiences in 2025. NFL Network’s six exclusive international games — played in Dublin, London (three), Berlin, and Madrid — averaged a record 6.2 million viewers across television and digital platforms, marking a +32% increase over the previous year’s international slate and cementing 2025 as the most-watched international season in NFL Network history.
*Viewership figures exclude local over-the-air broadcasts in each host market.
A big year on NFL Network
The season finale in Madrid provided the dramatic crescendo the league surely dreamed of. The Miami Dolphins’ thrilling 16-13 overtime victory over the Washington Commanders at the iconic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium averaged 5.9 million viewers, ranking it among the five most-watched international games ever carried by NFL Network.
In the final 13 minutes of regulation and overtime, the audience peaked above eight million — a remarkable number for a 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff in the United States.
The viewership crown, however, belonged to the October 5 clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where the Minnesota Vikings outlasted the Cleveland Browns in front of 6.4 million average viewers — the most-watched international broadcast on the NFL Network this season.
These games, produced by FOX Sports with a mix of NFL Network and FOX on-air talent, have become appointment viewing for a growing segment of the American audience willing to set an early alarm on Sunday mornings.
The numbers arrive at a pivotal moment for the league’s global strategy.
More international games coming?
The NFL has openly discussed playing as many as nine international games in 2026 and eventually building toward a 16-game international package that could be sold as its own distinct rights bundle — a potential new revenue river comparable in scale to Thursday Night Football or Sunday Ticket.
That vision, however, hinges on television logistics that remain in flux. The pending NFL–ESPN equity deal, still awaiting regulatory approval, would eliminate the four annual Monday Night Football doubleheaders starting in 2026.
If the deal is not approved by the time the 2026 schedule is released next spring, the league must still deliver ESPN its contractual 21 regular-season games in the first 17 weeks.
Filling that gap without doubleheaders could force some international inventory onto ESPN or ABC — a scenario that would alter the current NFL Network-dominated model fans enjoyed this season.
Football for breakfast
Regardless of where future games land, 2025 offered undeniable proof of concept: millions of U.S. viewers are now comfortable treating 9:30 a.m. ET as a legitimate NFL window.
The more regularly the league plants its flag overseas, the more that early Sunday slot risks becoming as routine as 1 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. kickoffs.
For context, six of this season’s seven international games aired exclusively on NFL Network (the lone exception being the Chiefs–Chargers season opener in Brazil, which streamed on YouTube as part of the league’s existing digital arrangement).
The consistent NFL Network home clearly helped audiences know exactly where to find the action — a factor the league will weigh heavily as it maps out 2026 and beyond.
NFL Network’s live game coverage now goes dark until Week 17, when it will close out its 2025 slate with a Saturday tripleheader.
By then, front offices in New York will already be deep into planning an even bigger international footprint — armed with the comforting knowledge that, when it comes to global games, the audience is not just following. It’s growing, and fast.
